In some cases, an RFID reader operates in a dense reader environment, i.e., an area with many readers sharing fewer channels than the number of readers. Each RFID reader works to scan its interrogation zone for transponders, reading them when they are found. Because the transponder uses radar cross section (RCS) modulation to backscatter information to the readers, the RFID communications link can be very asymmetric. The readers typically transmit around 1 watt, while only about 0.1 milliwatt or less gets reflected back from the transponder. After propagation losses from the transponder to the reader the receive signal power at the reader can be 1 nanowatt for fully passive transponders, and as low as 1 picowatt for battery assisted transponders. At the same time other nearby readers also transmit 1 watt, sometimes on the same channel or nearby channels. Although the transponder backscatter signal is, in some cases, separated from the readers' transmission on a sub-carrier, the problem of filtering out unwanted adjacent reader transmissions is very difficult.
As an example, the readers 104 may support one or more of the following procotols: ISO/IEC 14443, 15693 and 18000-3 standards of 13.56 MHz high frequency (HF) RFID interface, all or some options of ECMA-340 13.56 MHz Near Field Communication (NFC) interface, all or some options of ISO/IEC 18000-2 standard and other variations of 100-150 kHz low frequency (LF) RFID interfaces, ISO/IEC 18000-4 standard of 2.45 GHz ultra high frequency (UHF) RFID interface, ISO/IEC 18000-6 standard of 860-960 MHz UHF RFID interface, ISO/IEC 18000-7 standard of 433 MHz UHF RFID interface, and/or others.